Advice needed on region-free DVD player...

[TexasGuy]

I have been considering a region-free DVD player for some time. Specifically, there are a number of R2 DVDs I'm interested in obtaining. I'm also wanting to upgrade to progressive scan, and would like 2-disc capacity. My television is a Toshiba 56H80 widescreen.

I was all set to make my purchase of a region-free Toshiba SD-6200 player for about $700, which seemed to meet all my requirements. Then I start reading about REA - a new coding being placed on DVDs to prevent them from being played on region-free players. Obviously, I'm very concerned about spending $700 on a player that won't play most of the DVDs I purchase in the future.

As an alternative, I'm considering purchasing a normal, unmodified Toshiba SD-6200 player (for about $400 online), and a separate player for R2 DVDs. The second player would either be a cheaper region-free modified player, or a normal R2 player with an electrical outlet converter (incidentally, a normal R2 player could also be handy if the studios also enforce region coding on R2 releases).

My questions...

1. Is REA a real threat, or am I overreacting?

2. Has anyone tried playing a R2 player with the electrical current converter? If so, any problems?

3. Any other suggestions?

[cubanx]

Look at a Skyworth 1050P(Progressive) for $340 shipped:

RCE Free
Macrovision Free
Region Free
SVCD/VCD Compatible

I use it on my New Toshiba 65H80 and it's great. Your don't need a power converter but do need to pick up a $1.50 US Plug connector @ Home depot to replace the European Plug connector.

Can be found here:

https://www.setssl.com/~hivizone/dvdplayer/main_frame.htm

[X]

REA (or RCE) only affects regionless players. You should get one that can also change to any region, not just become region 0. My Apex 600A does that.

[nekobus]

The Skyworth will change regions and auto adjust for RCE. The only problem with it is that you may have to change out a defective capacitor depending upon your machine.

[late_but_earnest]

With a multi region dvd player, don't you have to worry about a PAL to NTSC conversion?

I've read some good things about the Malata DVD-N996 in this regard.

[wkc]

Originally posted by late_but_earnest
With a multi region dvd player, don't you have to worry about a PAL to NTSC conversion?




The Apex 660 does PAL to NTSC conversion and visa versa. On the newer firmware, you can flash upgrade the ROM to region 0 or any other region you care to pick.


Regards

[elengineer]

Multiple items to consider:

1) If you are concerned about RCE, don't be. From my understanding, RCE works by checking the player's region code and the DVD disc's code. If the player isn't set to exactly match the disc's code, the DVD won't play. In other words, an RCE disk won't play if your DVD player is set to the 'BYPASS' or Region 0 code. To get around this you can do the following:
a) Buy a DVD player that lets you manually selct the different region codes.
Before you play an RCE disk, just change teh player's region code to match
that of the disc.

b) Get an 'adaptive' player. These players automatically sense the disc's region
code. You pop the disc in, and the player sets itself to the proper code. For
this option, the worst case would be that you would have to have a non-RCE
disk which has a region code identical to your RCE one. You would then have
to pop in the non-RCE disk which causes the player to set itself. Then, you
take out that disk and pop in the RCE one.

2) Be extremely careful you don't get overcharged buying your region-free dvd player. Several DVD players don't require any hardware modifications at all. They are pretty much region-free right out of the box. Despite this, I have seen several instances of various places literally doubling or tripling the MSRP simply because they are advertising it as region free. So you end up paying 2x or 3x the price for the exact same player.

3) Unless your TV is multi-system (can display both PAL and NTSC) getting a R2 PAL player with a voltage converter would be practically useless. The player will work with the voltage converter, but your TV will be incapable of displaying the signal (PAL) it puts out.

4) There are several issues regarding getting a proper PAL -> NTSC conversion.

The main issue is in regards to anamorphic (16x9) PAL discs. From my understanding and experience, players such as the ones from Sampo and APEX will not convert anamorphic PAL correctly. In order to display an anamorphic PAL image in the proper aspect ratio (i.e. not stretched in the vertical direction), two things need to both occur:
a) Convert the anamorphic PAL image to an anamorphic NTSC image
b) Convert the 16x9 anamorphic NTSC image to a "proper" widescreen aspect ratio on a 4:3 TV.
The Sampo and Apex models (along with possibly some others) can't do both of these steps at the same time. They can do one or the other. This results in a vertically stretched image on a regular 4:3 NTSC TV when you play an anamorphic PAL disc. Now, since you already have a 16x9 widescreen TV, you don't have to worry about step b) as the image will be displayed properly on your 16x9 set after the PAL conversion. The only time you would run into problems is if you got one of these players and at some point hooked it up to a regular 4:3 TV. Also, this issue only affects anamorphic PAL DVDs. If the DVD is not anamorphic, it will be displayed properly. In short, you could get one of these players, hook it up to your 16x9 TV and not worry about it.

5) Based on info I have seen you basically have the following options if you want to correctly do PAL on an NTSC TV:
a) Get a multi-system TV. (ergh...horribly pricey)
b) Get a player that does PAL -> NTSC conversions (but beware of the aforementioned issue, which would require a 16x9 TV or a separate PAL/NTSC converter)
c) Get a multi-region player, and buy a seperate PAL/NTSC converter. This option could get expensive depending upon the level of conversion you want.
d) Forget getting a player and/or separate converter. Build a Home-Theatre PC. You basically get a moderately fast computer, a video card that will output to the TV, a region-free DVD drive, a soundcard that will output DD/DTS, and some DVD player sofware. If done properly, this option will pretty much eliminate any possible conversion probems and provide a good upgrade path to support future video/TV formats.

Hope this helped.

[PacMan2006]

Sorry to bring this back up. I posted it in another thread but I don't know if anyone will see it.

I'm thinking about getting a Daewoo player, either the 5800 or 5700 model. I want one because I want to be able to play UK R2 dvd's like "Family Guy," "Futurama" and the upcoming FOX drama "24" when it comes out in August.

Now, my guess is that "24" will be in widescreen. I have a 4:3 television. If I get the dvd that was made in widescreen, will the show just fill up fill up my television screen, or will there be serious picture quality problems? Will it look unnaturally strecthed as if the show had been zoomed in X3 using the remote, or will it just look like I'm watching a regular show broadcasted on a network channel which fills up my screen with little to no streching of the picture?

Thanks in advance.